Noel

@Warbonnet Fran are they all suburban versions or are there any mainline (intercity) versions planned?

Ah but baby sitting a special little one is a treasured gift.

A few pics of Gort's first ever outing to an exhibition at the superbly organised WMRC exhibition. There were 25 layouts, many absolute stunners. Was honoured to be in such exalted company. Little Siddington in the background behind Gort and in the far distance IRMs stand with the Park Royal 3D sample. (Far away not very small you understand ) View from Athenry end as pax train exits the loop. View from Ennis end as B134 prepares to enter the yard and take some wagons up to Tuam. Drone Shot Glamorous assistant for the weekend. She even learned how to shunt the yard and organise delayed uncoupling of wagons around the yard sidings. Nice touch for the organisers was a lovely badge to mark our first attendance at this exhibition Men at work preparing in the yard as two passing goods trains expected in the next hour. Had so much fun shunting the wagons around the yard and through the shed over the weekend. The Kadee couplings performed almost perfectly as did the uncoupling magnet hidden under the track. In the background is Barry Carses photo from Book 'Rails through the West' that I saw 4 years ago and the photo that inspired reproduction in this layout. All in all really glad we made the trip down. Interesting travelling down in an EV towing a large two axle trailer. But made it easily on a single charge despite a strong head wind. Superb hospitality and the show with the 'Station Cafe' providing a variety of hot food, snacks, and all manner of beverages and loads of tables to sit at and chat with fellow modellers. It was great to meet so many in person face2face and chat rather than type. Like the Chinese the WMRC guys are a truly great bunch of lads. Highlight of the show was chatting in person to folks from this forum and the Facebook model groups. Now to plan Gort's extension programme. Two fiddle yard boards already made, which will allow for more continuous operation for the general public who would find shunting rather boring, especially youngsters. Was really pleased everything still worked reliably after transport. What next for this layout? I've a few areas to finish (signal box facia + gutters + chimney, servo drive and light signals, letter box, one extra uncoupling magnet for the pax loop, point rodding links to points, etc). After that its two drop leaf semi-circular boards for the ends to connect to the fiddle yard boards. Good night. Wreaked tired after an enjoyable weekend.

Brilliant Jonathan. Were you at Wexford by any chance?

Top class realism Rob. You've really captured the atmosphere of Heuston. Very enjoyable to watch.

Superb on every level. Love this layout.

Yes. 1984 photo (C) Steve Rabone. As I remembered the Park Royals, I never saw them in Tippex myself. https://www.steverabone.com/RailwayPhotographs/ireland_1984.htm Have four of these with Kadee couplings. They will be joined by IRM versions. Two of these, two craven, two laminates and a HLV or GSV and you have an Irish passenger train from the 1960s through to the 1980s. Always mixed rakes of 'all kinds of everything'. Delighted to hear the IRM versions will be lit and have an anti-flicker capacitor. My personal nostalgia memory is main line versions with the big white WC window. Great news this era will be covered and some company for the early livery A classes too.

Yea potatoe patayto transit transport. Many journo's and researchers seem to only spend 90 seconds on google to research anything instead of speaking with qualified sources. Wiki is taken as gospel truth.

Park royals yehaw!

No the announcement about the Park Royal was well received and a welcome addition, at last some coaches for the silver, black, green and B&T livery A class to haul. The 3D sample looked great.

Honoured to be exhibiting Gort at Wexford Model Railway exhibition over the weekend. Arrived at 6:30, superb organisation at the venue. Unloaded and setup in one hour thanks to help from my glamourous soul mate and the organisers. Excellent venue. Looking forward to the next few days.left the signals in the car. Will put them up tomorrow.

Measure twice cut once was the best bit of advice I ever got. Best wishes on what sounds like a fascinating project. Enjoy it and don't rush it.

Loaded into trailer. Gort ready for her first public outing, ready for trip down to wexford tonight.

How to fix Kadee no 18 couplings on an IRM Cement wagon. Same method applies to the Ballast, Gypsom, and magnesite wagons. Glue No 18 kadee to the underside of the NEM pockets. Gently sand or file the underside of the NEM pockets (ie to get good glue bond later). On one you will need to file away the IRM logo which is in relief to make the surface flat enough to get a super glue bond. Gently file the tongs of the Kadee coupling (ie to rough surface for better bond). Superglue the Tongs of the Kadee coupling to the underside of the NEM pockets and leave for 10-20mins before use to allow bond to cure hard. Ensure the flat inside of the knuckle coupling is level with the external edges of the buffers. Gluing the Kadee's to the underside of the NEM pocket ensures perfect and correct height of the coupling as per kadee height guage and all other IRM wagons. The wagons can then be automatically uncoupled using kadee uncoupling magnets and interoperate with other wagons and stock (eg IRM 40ft, MIR Cement Pallet wagons, MIR Cement Curtain wagons, Bachmann H-Vans, Dapol H-Vans, etc). Another benefit is the wagons are coupled closer together. Be careful handling these gorgeous wagons, they are very fragile as there are so many details parts fitted to the underside.

Goods yard. Supplies ready for loading onto wagons ready for the 18:35 passing pick up goods train to Ennis. There'll be one wagon of cattle loaded here also. Yard crane handy for loading the larger boxes into the corrugated open wagons.

Some CIE era trains on the move. How on earth will I get enough poetic license to run 22k along side these? May need a Tardis.

I must have been lucky with Hattons this past 18 months. No Delay's no glitches, no additional duty nor vat to be paid. Their DDP (ie Delivery Duty Paid) seemed to work like clock work. Because of DDP Hattons is the only UK retailer I still use. Everything else has been direct with German online retailers in the Eurozone so no hasssle.

That country side is so evocative and so like Co Galway the wonderful goods train above from Du”Gort” harbour could be on route to pass through Gort ending up in Claremorris.

Drool, I nearly fell off my perch looking at those wonderfully crafted scenes. Stunning in the extreme, atmosphere, reality and nostalgia for the pinnacle of a bygone era.

Got two items lightly weathered this evening for use on Gort SilverFox Tin Van - Not quite as grubby as JHB might like, but enough perhaps to get the idea. Irish Freight Models - CIE Laminate Coach. This is grubber than they would have ever looked. Back in the day CIE kept the black and tan coaches pretty clean, unlike IR in the 1990s who let the mk2 and mk3 stock go to pot as well as the few remaining B&T coaches. Ready for Wexford, well ready enough.

Just keep doing what you’ve been doing it’s superbly effective. Foam sheets, pva, plaster bandage, hot wire cutter, static grass and javis fine granite ballast (N gauge), sculptamold, and imagination inspired by reality.

I bought a Chinese static grass applicator a few years ago on eBay for €24. Worked as well as the Noch for 1/5th of the cost. Btw Dugort harbour scenery is stunningly Irish and realistic

Ah great you sourced the horse truck (ie Lorry)